content analysis

Question 1

what is content analysis

Answer 1

important technique in qualitative research
analysis of behaviours, written or spoken word into categories (top down or bottom up)
allows you to make qualitative into quantitative
used to understand changes in the trend of content and can be used to explain why there is attention on certain topics

Question 2

what are the different stages in content analysis

Answer 2

1. researcher put forward 1 or more general hypotheses
2. researcher generally identifies categories of theoretical relevance into which gathered data will be placed (e.g. above or below 30)
3. researcher needs to decide which sources of info to use as his/her sample (magazines/tv channels)
4. good to have 2 or more judges or coders to assign info into categories (ideally they shouldn’t know hypothesis)
5. result of content analysis needs to be related to hypothesis that motivated study

Question 3

what is top down

Answer 3

researcher starts with pre-set categories (usually based on previous research/theory)

Question 4

what is bottom up processing?

Answer 4

researcher allows categories to emerge form data, may lead to development of new theories

Question 5

strengths of content analysis

Answer 5

ease of application - easy to perform
opportunity to understand people as rounded individuals in a social context
suggests interesting hypotheses that can be tested in subsequent research
reliability - easy to replicate, through others using the same materials
complements other methods - content analysis can be used to verify results from other research methods and is especially useful as a longitudinal tool
inexpensive

Question 6

weaknesses of content analysis

Answer 6

data may come from one article (unrepresentative)
reduces complex behaviours into manageable categories, no underlying reasons or explanations revealed
social desirability bias - unrealistic e.g. models
researcher may favour material that favours hypothesis
limited by availability of material, therefore observed trends may not reflect reality e.g. negative event receive more coverage than positive ones
doesn’t show causality - trends and relationships - no c+e